Abstract:
This thesis examines characterisation in Dagbamba folktales. Dagbani is a Mabia
language spoken in the Northern Region of Ghana by the Dagbamba. The study aims
at exploring the characters in Dagbamba folktales that reflect the philosophies of the
Dagbamba in the viewpoint of mimesis as a theoretical framework. It also looks into
the individual themes found in these tales. The study reveals that, just as in many
other cultures, the Dagbamba employ animals, human beings, objects and
supernatural beings as characters in their tales. These characters exhibit unique traits
such as hardwork, compassion and generosity. These characters depict the Dagbamba
viewpoint of the world. The study uncovered specific themes such as respect for
others and unity is strength in the individual Dagbamba tales. Data for the study were
qualitatively collected from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data
were collected through semi-structured interviews and native speakers‟ intuition,
whiles the secondary data were collected from a Dagbani story book with the title,
Dagbani Salin’nyaɣisa, which means, “Interesting Dagbani stories” It is expected
that findings of this thesis would contribute to the prevailing literature on
characterisation cross-linguistically.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Gur-Gonja
Education, College of Languages Education, Submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Ghanaian Language Studies-Dagbani)
in the University of Education, Winneba
